What I seek is neither the real nor the unreal, but the Unconscious, the mystery of the instinctiveness of being,” he said about his portraits; or also: “Cézanne's characters, like ancient statues, do not have a gaze. Mine, on the contrary, see; they see even if I do not paint their pupils.” This book contains portraits that Modigliani painted of his friends and memories that his friends wrote about Modigliani.